1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to the art of electrical connectors, and more particularly, to an electrical connector with a shielding member used for connecting electronic devices such as notebook computers, servers with peripheral equipments.
2. Description of Related Art
A variety of electrical connectors are widely used for transmitting power and signals between electronic devices or electronic components of the electronic devices. For meeting the requirement of integration and miniaturization of the electronic devices, printed circuit boards are design smaller than before so that the electrical connectors mounted to the printed circuit boards are spaced a narrow distance from each other. At the same time, the electrical connectors are also highly desired for high-speed transmission of electrical signals. Thus, conductive contacts located in the electrical connector are easily affected by electromagnetic interferences occurred between the electrical connectors or exterior electronic devices. For effectively reducing the electromagnetic interferences, manufactures generally provide electrical connectors each with a shielding member which is made of metal material.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,220 discloses an electrical connector with a shielding member. The connector includes an insulated housing, a plurality of electrical contacts arranged in the housing. The housing has a main portion and a mating portion projecting from the main portion. The electrical contacts are located in the mating portion. The shield member are mounted to the connector for encircling the housing and has a main plate covering the main portion and a frame projecting from the main plate and covering the mating portion. However, during the connector or the connector mating with a complementary connector, static electricity occurred on the connector can cause to be discharged between the conductive contacts located therein. The electrostatic discharge may adversely affect the function of signal transmission of the electrical connector.
An example of an electrical connector assembly developed to solve this problem is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,300. The connector assembly has a first connector provided with guide posts that protrude from a mating surface at both ends thereof. A second connector has grooves that receive the guide posts. Conductive members are provided on each of the guide posts and the grooves. The conductive members establish a grounding connection before the engagement of conductive contacts located in the mating portion to cause electrostatic discharge. However, the connector assembly doesn't have a shielding member for protecting the conductive contacts from damaging of electromagnetic interference.
U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. 2004/0023537 A1 discloses another electrical connector for solving the problems. The connector has an insulative housing with a mating portion provided with a plurality of conductive contacts therein. A shielding member is mounted to an exterior of the insulative and is connected to a circuit board. Guide posts protrude from a surface of the insulative housing for facilitating engagement of the connector with a complementary connector. The guide posts have tips positioned further from the insulative housing than the mating portion. Conductive members are arranged on the tips of the guide posts. The conductive members facilitate electrostatic discharge with the complementary connector and have retention legs connected to the printed circuit board independently from the shielding member. As the conductive members are independent from the shielding member, the complexity of the assembling the connector is increased. Hence, it is highly desired to develop a connector which can overcome the problems above mentioned.